On Tuesday Penpol School had a very special visit from Google who had some exciting new technology to show off to the children.

Google Expeditions is a new project designed to introduce primary school children to Virtual Reality in the classroom.  Mark from Google bought 60 Google Cardboard headsets to Penpol along with 60 smart phones and tablets to get the system set up and running.  Throughout the day every class, from Year 1 to Year 6, had the chance to get some hands on time with the technology by going on a virtual school trip!

Led by their class teacher, the children were transported virtually around the world to unusual and exciting destinations including the Amazon Rainforest, underwater deep sea diving, onto the vast icy planes of Antartica and even into outer space to see the Moon and Earth from a whole new perspective.  The excitement amongst the children was electric, with loud gasps every time the teacher took them to a new location to explore.

Virtual Reality works by taking a 360 degree photo of a location and then using special software to make the viewer feel like they are in the middle of the action.  With the Google Cardboard and attached smartphone the children can then explore their surroundings simply by moving their head.  The classroom disappears and they are taken on an incredible school trip.

You can learn more about Google Expeditions here: https://edu.google.com/expeditions/

Throughout the day we took as many photos as possible to remember this amazing event, so please enjoy a selection of them below…